Commandos 2: Men of Courage
Commandos 2: Men of Courage is the sequel to Commandos: Behind Enemy Lines and Commandos: Beyond the Call of Duty. Developed by Pyro Studios and produced by Eidos Interactive, Commandos 2 has been one of the most successful World War II strategy games ever created for PC. This entry into the series is arguably the best and most played in the Commandos universe. The Mac OS X version of this title is published by Feral Interactive as part of the Commandos Battle Pack. The game places the player in command of a squad of commandos and various other Allied forces as they fight behind enemy lines to defeat the Axis. The action stretches from 1941 to 1945 and takes place on both the Western Front against the Germans and in the Pacific Theatre against the Japanese Empire . The Commandos Within the game you are given several of the 8 commandos for each mission, or sometimes all, to complete certain objectives. Depending on the individual commando's abilities they can each perform unique skills. *Jack (Butcher) O'Hara, (The Green Beret) is an Irish sergeant under the name "Tiny". In the game, he is the toughest and the only commando strong enough to lift heavy loads like fuel barrels and boxes. He can also stab enemies with his knife and bury himself in most soft surfaces. *Sir Francis T. Woolridge, (The Sniper) is a British operative under the name "Duke". In the game, he is the team's sharpshooter. *Sidney Perkins, (The Driver) a American operative known as "Tread". He is the only commando who can drive tanks, set various traps and throw molotov cocktails or smoke grenades. *Thomas Hancock, (The Sapper) a British operative under the name "Inferno". He is an expert in explosives and heavy weapons such as flamethrowers and bazookas. He is also the only commando who can fire the turret of a tank. *James Blackwood, (The Diver) an Australian operative known as "Fins". He can dive underwater and stay under indefinitely using his scuba gear, and is the only one who can pilot rowing boats. He can also use a grappling hook and throw knives. *René Duchamp, (The Spy) a French operative known as "Spooky". He can disguise himself as any enemy soldier or officer, and can not only distract enemies, but order lower ranking ones to look a certain direction or walk to nearby places. He cannot punch out enemies, but can use a poison syringe to daze, knock-out or even kill his opponents. *Paul Toledo, (The Thief) a French operative known as "Lupin". He is the smallest, the sneakiest and fastest, and can climb certain walls and jump through windows. He can also lockpick boxes and certain doors and knock opponents out with a roundhouse kick, but he can't tie them up. *Natasha Nikochevski, (The Seductress) is a Soviet operative from Kiev who is known as "Lips". In the game, she can distract enemy soldiers and dress as enemy operatives, but only when generals or SS are not present. She can also use a sniper rifle. *Whiskey, a bull terrier dog whose owner was a member of the French resistance shot by the Nazis. He can be used to distract enemies and pass items between commandos who use a dog whistle to call him. Enemies and allies The enemies are the Germans in the Western theatre, and the Japanese in the Pacific. In certain missions, there are people willing to help your commandos, or who the commandos need to help. They generally are the US soldiers, the British Soldiers, or the Gurkhas. Sometimes when there are no troop based allies to help the player, there are sometimes single allies to assist the player with a specific objective. Missions The game has 2 Training missions, 10 actual missions, and 10 bonus missions (From which 1 is unnamed and not available in the main menu). Click on the mission's name to find out more information about it. *''Training Camp 1'' *''Training Camp 2'' *''Night of the Wolves'' **''Bonus Mission 1'' *''Das Boot, Silent Killers'' **''Bonus Mission 2'' *''White Death'' **''Bonus Mission 3'' *''Target: Burma'' **''Bonus Mission 4'' *''Bridge over the River Kwai'' **''Bonus Mission 5'' *''The Guns of Savo Island'' **''Bonus Mission 6'' *''The Giant in Haiphong'' **''Bonus Mission 7'' *''Saving Private Smith'' **Unnamed bonus mission *''Castle Colditz'' **''Bonus Mission 8'' *''Is Paris Burning?'' **''Bonus Mission 9'' Historical inaccuracy *In mission "The Giant In Haiphong", the city Haiphong resembles a Chinese city, when in fact the city is in Vietnam . This inaccuracy extends to the game's website, which places Haiphong in China, and even wrongfully locates South East Asia.http://www.eidos.co.uk/gss/legacy/commandos2/mission.html *In the mission "Target: Burma" where the player must liberate a Burmese town from Japanese control, there is a giant Buddha statue in the temple area. In reality, there is no giant Buddha statue in Burma , it appears to be very similar to the Great Buddha of Kamakura of Japan. *In the mission "The Guns of Savo Island" where the player must destroy the naval coastal battery guns, there is an enemy patrol boat that bears a resemblance to the US Navy PBR which was used during the Vietnam War. In reality, the PBR was neither built by the Americans nor operated by the Japanese during World War II. Trivia *The majority of the missions are based on Film and Literature: *This is the first Commandos video game to feature enemies that uses melee attacks on the player and interior maps when each of your commando enter inside the building. *The mission "The Bridge on the River Kwai" is based on the movie of the same name, and it involves the rescue of Colonel Guinness, who is based on Colonel Nicholson, portrayed by actor Sir Alec Guinness in the film. The mission also involves destroying the Bridge, which looks very similar to the one seen in the movie. :*The mission "Guns of Savo Island ", involves the infiltration and destruction of the giant guns on the island. Because the name and the plot are very similar, this mission may be based on the film The Guns of Navarone. In the same mission, the player is assisted by a "hero" character named Wilson who is based in part on Robinson Crusoe's character. :*The mission "Das Boot, Silent Killers", is very loosely based on Das Boot. :*The mission "Castle Colditz" (Actually based on the Allied forces POW prison Oflag IV-C), involves the rescue of Russian soldiers in America, is loosely based on the films The Great Escape and The Colditz Story. :*The mission "Saving Private Smith", is obviously related to "Saving Private Ryan". *This game was packaged with Deus Ex, Tomb Raider Chronicles, and Thief 2 in an Eidos-released "Action 4-Play" pack for the PC. *Some of the vehicles in the previous which was used as a scenery and non-playable are later became playable in this game such as the Landwasserschlepper and the Willys MB. *This was the first Commandos game to appear on consoles. *There was also a Sega Dreamcast version of the game planned, however this got cancelled. *The Mac OS X version will not run on any version newer than Mac OS X 10.6.8 Snow Leopard, this is because it is designed for PowerPC macs and Snow Leopard is the last version with support for PowerPC apps. *There is a mod for Commandos 2 called Commandos 2: Destination Paris, this mod increases the difficulty of the game, adds a lot of fan made missions, and ports over all the maps from Commandos BEL, BCD and Commandos 3 into Commandos 2, however most of them are more difficult than the original versions. Over 100 new missions altogether. The mod also includes new enemies, new vehicles, and ability to drive vehicles that you couldn't in the default game. *There is a mod in Commandos: Beyond the Call of Duty based on this game which is called Commandos: Men of Duty. All the elements from the game was excluded but the scenery are still remained. :*All the Japanese enemies in missions based on the Pacific theatre are replaced with the Germans. :*Some of the accessible buildings are omitted. :*Some of the vehicles that are exclusively in Men of Courage are replaced by vehicles from the old games such as a Heinkel He 162 from the mission Eagle's Nest and a drivable Horch Kfz 15. :*All allied soldiers that aid your men in some certain missions are replaced with the two original non-commando allies such as the Pilot from the mission Operation Icarus and the Prisoner. Note External links * Official Commandos 2: Men of Courage website * Download Commandos 2 demo * Buy Commandos 2: Men of Courage (Steam) * Buy Commandos 2: Men of Courage (GOG) Category:Games